DISTRACTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does distraction mean? 

• DISTRACTION (noun)
  The noun DISTRACTION has 4 senses:

1. mental turmoil

2. an obstacle to attention

3. an entertainment that provokes pleased interest and distracts you from worries and vexations

4. the act of distracting; drawing someone's attention away from something

  Familiarity information: DISTRACTION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISTRACTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Mental turmoil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

he drives me to distraction

Hypernyms ("distraction" is a kind of...):

confusedness; confusion; disarray; mental confusion; muddiness (a mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought and behavior)

Derivation:

distract (disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An obstacle to attention

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("distraction" is a kind of...):

inattention (lack of attention)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An entertainment that provokes pleased interest and distracts you from worries and vexations

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

beguilement; distraction

Hypernyms ("distraction" is a kind of...):

amusement; entertainment (an activity that is diverting and that holds the attention)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The act of distracting; drawing someone's attention away from something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

distraction; misdirection

Context example:

conjurers are experts at misdirection

Hypernyms ("distraction" is a kind of...):

alteration; revision (the act of revising or altering (involving reconsideration and modification))

Derivation:

distract (draw someone's attention away from something)

 Context examples 

Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Other methods I use to relieve pain include; distraction.

(BPI - Distraction to Relieve Pain, NCI Thesaurus)

You seem very focused on what you are doing, and you appear to want to screen out distractions.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Rats appear to have the same active forgetting ability as humans do – they forget memories selectively when those memories cause distraction.

(Selective amnesia: how rats and humans are able to actively forget distracting memories, University of Cambridge)

It is as a form of distraction and attention therapy.

(Imagery Therapy, NCI Thesaurus)

He also advised me to be composed; I scorned the insinuation of helplessness and distraction, shook off his hand, and began to walk about again.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But her temper was fluctuating; joy for a few instants shone in her eyes, but it continually gave place to distraction and reverie.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I loved Dora Spenlow to distraction!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This chitter-chatter drove me to distraction.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Fortunately it came at a time when there was no distraction; for had it occurred whilst we were at a station, we might not have secured the necessary calm and isolation.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The study found that the greatest crash risk came from visual distractions related to using cell phones and reaching for objects.

(Reaching for objects while driving may raise teen crash risk nearly sevenfold, National Institutes of Health)